Don't be scared of Christians

The president's entrance in episode one, season one, cues one of the greatest opening lines in television. Walking in on his staff and angry God-botherers disputing the precise wording of the First Commandment, Bartlet declares: "I am the Lord your God. Thou shalt worship no other gods before me. Boy, those were the days, huh?" He concludes a spirited dissertation on morality by commanding the querulous Bible yahoos to "get your fat asses out of my White House".

Allow the eccentric to be heard

In the past eight years, many voices have been ignored during the tenure of surely the least intellectually curious president in US history. A couple of episodes of The West Wing revolve around an initiative called Big Block of Cheese Day, in which White House staff take meetings with representatives of fringe interests, from map reformers to proponents of highways for wolves. "By the end of the day, there's always one or two converts, right?" notes Bartlet.

Listen to your troops

Early in season one, in a clear rebuke to Bill Clinton's promiscuous 1998 missile strikes on Sudan and Afghanistan, Bartlet allows himself to be talked out of a disproportionate retaliation to a Syrian-sponsored terror attack. A good commander-in-chief, especially one with a lack of military experience (like Clinton, Bartlet, Bush and Obama) considers suggestions as well as issues orders.

Don't react to every provocation

The start of season six sees Bartlet defying the urging of all around him to retaliate for the bombing of a convoy of US officials in Gaza. Instead, he leverages the tension into a Middle East peace conference at Camp David - not what America's enemies would have been expecting.

Use America's power to prevent tragedy

In season four, genocide is perpetrated in a fictional African country clearly based on Rwanda. Where Clinton did nothing while a million people were hacked to death in 1994, Bartlet declares a new doctrine of humanitarian intervention, and sends in the army: "I got this intelligence summary this afternoon. Mothers are standing in front of tanks. And we're going to go get their backs."

If you get a clear shot at an enemy, take it

The climax of season three sees Bartlet overcoming his qualms to order a special forces hit on a terrorist who is also defence minister of an ostensibly friendly Middle Eastern country. "We killed Yamamoto," reminds the fictional chairman of the joint chiefs, referring to the 1943 shooting down of the Japanese naval commander.

Don't pick a sulky, philandering creep as vice-president

The character flaws of John Hoynes, when revealed towards the end of season four, result indirectly in the brief ceding of the White House to the Republicans, and Hoynes' politically expedient replacement by Bob Russell, next to whom Dan Quayle looks like Al Gore.

Where you can, find common cause with your opponents

In season one, Bartlet enlists rightwing Republican senator Max Lobell to further his efforts towards campaign-finance reform - despite the fact that, as Bartlet observes, Lobell thinks the president is "a lily-livered, bleeding-heart, liberal egghead communist" and, as Lobell replies, Bartlet believes the senator is "a gun-toting, redneck son of a bitch". If they can get along, so can Obama and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell.

Discourage your daughters from dating idiots

May become an issue if Obama wins on Tuesday and serves two terms - by the time he leaves office in January 2017, his daughters will be 19 and 16. Zoey Bartlet's dalliance with a twittish French aristocrat in season four leads to her kidnap, a constitutional crisis and a small war in the Middle East.

Be yourself

Probably the most emblematic episode of the seven-season run is the one entitled Let Bartlet Be Bartlet, which is to say: let a smart, educated, thoughtful, even "elitist" man play to those strengths, rather than pretending he has anything in common with any Joe the Plumber beyond a regard for their country's constitution and an interest in its future. Which is all he need have.